I love Mexican food and cook it regularly (including today, actually). So, I was thrilled when I heard on Atlas Obscura that The University of Texas at San Antonio was digitizing the largest collection of historic Mexican cookbooks in the United States. While the project started prior to the pandemic, it is now meant to inspire home cooks during it.
The UTSA Libraries released the first of the mini-cookbooks earlier this month. Postres: Guardando Lo Mejor Para el Principio, or “Desserts: Saving the Best for First,” brings recipes in English and Spanish from generations of Mexican cooks to foodies at home looking to whip up some historic sweets.
Recetas: Cocinando en los Tiempos del Coronavirus
The e-book series, Recetas: Cocinando en los Tiempos del Coronavirus/Cooking in the Time of Coronavirus, is the culmination of a 20-year collection effort by the UTSA Libraries Special Collections. What started with a 500-book donation in 2001 grew into a 2,000-plus collection of Mexican recipe books, some dating back to 1789.
Releasing the e-books is something of a stopgap until the librarians can continue their digitization project.
The recipes range from an 1831 recipe for rice pudding to a churro recipe written shortly after the Mexican Revolution. The final recipe, written by Josefina Velázquez de León, a pioneer of Mexican gastronomy, is for a Quinceañera Cake. It calls for 14 cups of butter, 18 cups of sugar, 22 cups of flour, and several pounds of decorations. Oh, and apparently there are dolls involved.
Recetas V2: Main Courses will be released in the fall, and Recetas V3: Appetizers & Drinks will follow sometime in 2021.
Download the entire e-book for free in ePub and PDF format on the UTSA Libraries website.
In the meantime, here are two recipes from Postres to tide you over.
Corona Almendrada, or “Almond Crown”
The addition of baking powder makes this a lighter take on a traditional sponge cake. With a hint of lemon and a crunchy exterior from coating the pan in sliced almonds, the cake goes well with tea, coffee, and fruit. This recipe comes from Josefina Velázquez de León’s cookbook, Repostería Selecta (1950).
Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 ½ to 1 ⅔ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 eggs (separated)
- ½ cup almonds
- Zest of ½ lemon
Method of preparation:
- Finely chop almonds.
- Generously grease a tube pan with butter, and coat the bottom and sides with almonds.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
- Add the egg yolks, one by one.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together; then, add to the butter mixture.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.
- Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into the tube pan.
- Bake at 325° F for 40 to 45 minutes.
Buñuelos de leche, or “Milk Buñuelos”
The ancestors of these fried sweets first appeared in Moorish Spain, and have since proliferated around the world. Mexican buñuelos typically get a pinch of anise and a smothering of warm syrup to serve. This recipe, from an early 20th-century manuscript by Josefa Dammi Ortigosa and Susana de Sánchez Irazoqui, is light on instructions, perhaps with the assumption that the cook reading it would already know what to do.
Ingredients:
- 3 ⅓ cups (1 lb.) flour
- 1 cup milk
- 8 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup melted butter
- Ground anise
- Salt
Method of preparation:
- To a pound of flour, add a cup of milk, eight eggs, two egg whites, a cup of melted butter, a little ground anise, and a little salt.
- Make the dough and fry the buñuelos.
- Pour syrup on top.
wilfredbooks said:
Yummy! Cheers, Jon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Can’t wait for the other two!
LikeLiked by 1 person
wilfredbooks said:
Reblogged this on Wilfred Books and commented:
If you like Mexican food, here is a free eBook of historical recipes you can download; link in the post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
One for Mexican Foodies 😋
LikeLiked by 1 person
gibsonauthor said:
Reblogged this on s a gibson.
LikeLiked by 1 person
beetleypete said:
I love churros, but have only ever had them in Spain, and never cooked them. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
They’re not too hard to do (we tried them the other day) but do tend to come out unevenly cooked if you’re not careful. Well worth the try, though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
CarolCooks2 said:
Nice one, Nicholas I haven’t tried to cook them myself.. maybe its time to try..Thank you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
We’ve only tried the churros so far but we plan to try a lot more 🙂
LikeLike
CarolCooks2 said:
Sounds good to me.. I love Mexican 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I made some lovely enchiladas and nachos yesterday, trying for the first time McCormick’s mix along with my own. It was beautiful!
LikeLike
CarolCooks2 said:
Now I am hungry… 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – I’m always hungry for Mexican! I often joke I was born in the wrong country… 😀
Have you watched the “Taco Chronicles” on Netflix?
LikeLiked by 1 person
CarolCooks2 said:
No I haven’t… I love chillies and I always joke I must have been abducted at birth… 🤣
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Ha ha – same here 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marina Costa said:
Reblogged this on Marina Costa and commented:
Good appetite! You know, for me, anything Mexican is interesting.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Recetas 2020 said:
Muy interesante este post sobre Recetas Mexicanas, Gracias por compartir 👍
recetas 2020
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Gracias! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
RJK said:
Thank you for sharing the link.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
A pleasure! Happy cooking 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Free Historical Mexican Recipes – Rosalina Health